The Plague
by Chel Bel
Summary: A plague has fallen upon the ranch. As time goes on, Malon finds that not only the animals, but people are also being affected by this. Now, as strange events begin to occur, Malon must figure out what is going on, before she too is infected. MxL


_The Plague_

**Chapter One**

She was sitting in front of the fire, as usual, with a book in hand and a cup of hot tea placed neatly beside her on the ground. At the moment, her face held an expression of content, craftily shielding how uneasy she was really feeling. After all, the news she had received had been enough to ruin almost anyone's day.

The day had started out normal enough, she thought. She had got up, made breakfast and ate it in a familiar yet awkward silence with Ingo. Afterwards she had gone on to do all of the work that needed to be done on the ranch. Even as early as it was it was already hot and the fact that the animals hated the heat didn't do anything to make her job easier. She had been concentrating on grooming one particularly bad-tempered horse, when at mid-day she had heard the sound of a horse entering the ranch. Of course her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she had immediately gone to see who it was. When outside the barn, she was surprised to see Rafale, the mailman, dismounting from his horse. He didn't seem to have any mail with him and she was curious to why he had come. As usual, the blonde man seemed very nervous and jittery, but today she saw something different in his dark brown eyes. She could tell that he was worried and that he had come to her because of something urgent.

"Rafale is there something wrong?" She had asked him as she walked towards him, her brow all ready furrowing in apprehension. Right away his gaze had left hers, confirming her suspicions that something really was wrong.

"Miss Malon… I'm very sorry, but I have some news for you. Some… news concerning the ranch."

She had just about frozen at that and immediately thoughts of what it could be passed through her mind. Whatever it was she was sure that it wasn't going to be good.

About three months ago a plague had broken out among the ranch animals that at first didn't seem to be anything too bad, but now was doing a lot more damage than expected. The cows seemed to produce less and less milk everyday, and it had gotten so bad that some days they could barely fill two bottles of milk. The eggs the cuckoos laid were much darker than they should have been and could not be sold. The horses, though not too greatly affected, were irritable and lazy and it was a chore itself just to get them to cooperate so that she could groom them. This plague, whatever it was, had no immediate cure, and she, her father, Ingo and everyone else that they had come by to check it out, had no idea what it could possibly be. The news he told her didn't make anything better.

"What… what is it Rafale?" She had asked him, almost afraid to hear the answer to her question. He had then placed a kind hand on her shoulder and began his story.

Malon sighed and closed her book, unable to focus on any of it at the moment as she thought back to what Rafale had told her, remembering almost every detail of what he had said. Rafale had told her that he had been busy around town and he had over-heard a couple of old women talking about business concerning the ranch. Apparently, since no milk or eggs had been delivered in such a long time, the Hyrulian Government was considering possible solutions to the problem. However, they were leaning towards two that almost caused Malon to cringe as she thought about it. They would most likely either end up shutting down and selling the ranch to someone else, or they might even tear it down. Malon had gasped at the news. Not the news that they may shut it down (she had suspected this), but that they could and certainly would sell it, or, goddesses forbid, tear it down. Her _life_ was at the ranch. She had lived here for her entire life. They couldn't possibly take that away from her… could they?

After comforting her, and trying to convince her that it was only a possibility, Rafale had bid his farewell and left her to her own thoughts. She set her book down and picked up the cup of tea, watching the liquid as it swirled around and looking at her reflection in it as she thought. How was she going to tell this to her father? Or Ingo? It would absolutely crush both of them. But even if she didn't, she knew that they would eventually find out.

"Dammit." she cursed quietly to herself. There just had to be something that she could do. Her hand tightened around the cup a bit but after a moment she released her grip and slowly set it down, trying to relax herself. She couldn't get so worked up about it. It wasn't really like there was anything she could do about the situation. But still…

"Malon, honey, is everything all right?" She jumped a bit, surprised at the sound of her father's voice. She turned around seeing him at the stairs and then groaned softly, giving him a sort of half grin.

"Dad, didn't you go to bed a few hours ago?" She asked him in return, avoiding his question. He yawned sleepily and walked over to where she sat, taking a seat next to her.

"I couldn't sleep. I thought I'd come downstairs for a glass of water. But I could ask you the same question. Why are you still up anyway?" She looked at him and noticed he had a tired, worn out expression on his face. She felt bad for him, knowing that the reason he hadn't been able to sleep was probably because he had been worrying about the ranch, just as she had.

"I was reading dad." She finally answered him, after thinking it over for a moment. He looked at her then to the ground where the book lay.

"Doesn't really look like that to me." He said, lifting an eyebrow. All she could think to do was shrug. She then saw his expression change to a serious one and he spoke again. "Tell me Malon, what's been troubling you?" Why was it that he could see how she was feeling even through her shield of content?

"It's… it's nothing dad." She lied to him. She knew he didn't believe her, though. After all, she was the worst liar she knew.

"Malon…" He frowned at her, and she turned so that he couldn't see her, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them.

"It's just… it's the ranch, Dad. I'm worried about it." She finally said after a long silence. She heard him sigh and she turned back to face him and saw him nod, agreeing with her.

"I know, Malon, we all are. But…I don't give up hope. I know everything will get better. We'll figure out what's causing all of this eventually, fix it and everything will be good and ready to sell again in no time." He smiled at her and she forced a smile back at him. How was she ever going to tell him the news now, what with him being so hopeful. She thought this over for a minute then answered him.

"You're probably right." She said, trying to make it sound like she really believed him. He got up, going over to get a cold glass of water quickly and walked back towards her.

"Just try to get some sleep okay honey?" He said, pecking her on the cheek. She then watched him slowly make his way upstairs.

She sighed now, looking into the fire. There just _had_ to be something she could do. She would think of something. There was no way she could just let this happen. Looking back at the stairs she remembered her father's words and decided that perhaps she probably should try to get some sleep. But as she looked back into the fire and the warmth escalated to her face, she knew that this would indeed be a sleepless night.

O.o.o.o.O

Okay so there's the first chapter. I got the idea for this story a long time ago and was just recently looking through old writing pieces and decided to post it up. I only have a vague idea of where I'm going with this story so it most likely won't be updated anytime soon. And the title will definitely change… well hopefully. Please review however and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!


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